5 Sneaky Health Threats

Breathe-easy advice every man must follow

You breathe about 20,000 times per day. That’s plenty of chances for allergens, smog, and smoke to invade your body and cause trouble. But you can avoid these lung-destroyers—and the problems that come with them. Here are the four biggest threats to your lungs and how to avoid them.

Invisible threat #1: Air pollutionDuring the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government temporarily shut down factories and took 1.5 million cars off the road to ease the massive city's persistent smog. It offered scientists an unprecedented chance to see how the body responds to inhaling fewer pollutants. During the two-month period, markers of inflammation and blood vessel dysfunction significantly dropped among Beijing residents. Their blood pressure dipped as well, University of Southern California researchers found. “The air pollution mixture contains chemical elements that react to biological cells, causing inflammation,” says Jim Zhang, Ph.D., of USC. You might be able to curb the effects of inflammation caused by pollution by loading up on antioxidants, says Zhang. Eat more green leafy vegetables such as kale and spinach, more berries, and dark chocolate. And switch to morning workouts, since ozone is usually lowest between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m.

Invisible threat #2: Cold virusesLong, intense workouts can actually drain your immunity, thanks to the way adrenaline and cortisol suppress your white blood cells. In the weeks after competing in a marathon, for example, your risk of getting a cold or sinus infection increase by as much as a factor of six, according to an English study. At the same time, a sedentary lifestyle also increases your risk of infection several times over. The solution: Cardio—just not so much. “Any moderately strenuous exercise lasting more than 90 minutes will have a depressive effect on immune function,” says study author Mike Gleeson, Ph.D., professor of exercise biochemistry at Loughborough University. But shorter bouts of exercise—even intense interval sprints—have been found to increase the “natural killer” cells in your blood that attack viruses.

Invisible threat #3: AllergensAllergies don’t only cause sneezing and sore noses—they’re also a main asthma attack trigger. Even if you didn’t have asthma as a kid, it’s possible to develop it as an adult. But you won’t be keeled over, turning blue, and clenching your chest like you see in the movies. A real attack is more subtle. “Your chest will tighten, and you'll probably hear a high pitched whine coming from your chest when you exhale because the inflammation is constricting your airways,” says Keith Rose, M.D., a pulmonologist at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York.

If you want to prevent your kids from becoming asthmatic, get a dog. Mice exposed to dust from homes with dogs were less likely to be infected with a type of lung infection that increases the risk of asthma in infants, according to a new study. Previous studies have also shown that children who grow up on farms are less likely to be asthmatic. We think that the bacteria in pet dust change the bacterial community in your gut, which modulates the immune system so that the host is more resilient against infection,” says study author Kei Fujimura, Ph.D., a gastroenterologist at the University of California, San Francisco. She recommends getting a dog before the baby is born.

Invisible threat #4: SmokeTobacco smoke is single-handedly responsible for close to 90 percent of lung cancer in men, according to the National Cancer Institute. Despite that, 59 percent of adults aren't even trying to quit. Here's how you can convince them: Ask your doctor or pharmacist if they can supply you with free samples of nicotine replacement, and pass those on to your buddy. When researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina gave a week's supply of nicotine lozenges to smokers who weren't interested in quitting, those smokers were 30 percent more likely to decide to kick the habit.

Invisible threat #5: Indoor air pollutantsYou spend 90 percent of your time indoors. Since there’s little ventilation in your home or office, it only takes a small bit of pollution to seriously hurt the air quality—and your health. What should you look out for? Click here to learn the 5 Sources of Indoor Air Pollution You Must Avoid.